| Femmes Fatales | Apr 3 2019 |
Rare new life form discovered in the Pacific.
This dazzling photo features Doris Day and was made when she was filming her romantic comedy The Glass Bottom Boat. Looking at her outfit you're thinking: What could this movie possibly be about? Well, surprisingly, the title is literal. A guy runs glass bottom boat tours off Santa Catalina Island and Day dresses as a mermaid and swims under the boat to entertain the clients. Romance rears its head when a fisherman accidentally snags her costume and reels her in. We haven't watched it, but we may, just to see Day in this crazy get-up. It was designed by Ray Aghayan, and though it doesn't exactly scream mermaid to us so much as it does Vegas showgirl or Rio samba dancer, it's still pretty sweet. The photo dates from 1966.
| Hollywoodland | Sep 15 2017 |
Clothes encounters of the Hollywood kind.
We've been gathering rare wardrobe and hairdresser test shots from the golden era of Hollywood, and today seems like a good day to share some of what we've found. It was standard procedure for all the main performers in a movie to pose for such photos, but the negatives that survive tend to belong to the most popular stars, such as Cary Grant, who you see at right. You'll see Marilyn Monroe more than amply represented below. What can we do? She's possibly the most photographed Hollywood figure ever, and she was beautiful in every exposure. But we've also found shots of a few lesser known stars, such as Giorgia Moll and France Nuyen.Some of the shots are worth special note. You'll see Doris Day as a mermaid for The Glass Bottom Boat, Liz Taylor as a kid for National Velvet and an adult for Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, Farrah Fawcett in lingerie, Sheree North in both front and rear poses, and Yul Brynner looking like an actual man by sporting a body that had to that point seemingly known neither razor nor wax (he ditched the fur for his actual onscreen appearances). Usually the photos feature a chalkboard or card with pertinent information about the production and star, but not always, as in the case of Brynner's photo, and in Audrey Hepburn's and Joan Collins' cases as well. If the names of the subjects don't appear on the chalkboards you can refer to the keywords at bottom, which are listed in order. We may put together another group of these wardrobe shots later.
Myra BreckinridgeThe Glass Bottom BoatNational VelvetCary GrantAudrey HepburnIngrid BergmanElizabeth TaylorYul BrynnerJoan CollinsMarilyn MonroeGrace KellyDorothy MaloneHumphrey BogartFarrah FawcettFrance NuyenGiorgia MollLinda HarrisonNatalie WoodDoris DayAnne FrancisSheree NorthJames DeanRaquel WelchMarlon Brandocinema
